My Ántonia: Instructions for Seeing

An installation based on Willa Cather’s Novel

Prints, text, mapping by Barbara Tetenbaum

May 13 – June 30

Opening Reception Wednesday, May 13, 6 – 8pm  

Free and open to all

Also in conjunction with the 15^th International Cather Seminar

Reception & Artist Conversation with Barbara Tetenbaum,

Tuesday, June 9, 6:00 – 7:00      Free and open to all

This exhibition offers Barbara Tetenbaum’s visual presentation of one of Cather’s beloved novels My Ántonia, through mapping components, a carved interpretation board to imagine the interconnected tracings of distance and travels, and book stands with tactile printed pages that encourage close reading, all evoking our analytical and emotional perceptions.

Begun in 2010, Tetenbaum’s investigation of this great American novel and her personal experience of “close reading” has lead to large-scale art installations exhibited at the Oregon College of Art and Craft’s Hoffman Gallery, and Reed College, Portland, Oregon. The context of place will be especially rich presented in Nebraska as the work invites viewers to map and ignite their understanding of the novel’s remarkable story.

“I wanted to put myself in the position of a first-time reader and map my understanding of a novel as I listened to it on tape. I chose Cather’s book almost at random. What I didn’t expect was how completely obsessed I would become with the power and beauty of her writing, and her ability to use language to evoke the truth of lived experience,” said Tetenbaum.